Naruto: Daughters of Moon and Sun
by cynicalConquestar
Summary: What is a Friend? What is a Bond? What is a Ninja? Sakura Haruno chases destiny, grasping at the strings of fate. Naruto Uzumaki cries out at the world, calling to those he values. Hinata Hyuuga turns her back, seeking nothing but for her ambition.
1. My Name is Sakura!

**Naruto: Daughters of Moon and Sun**

 **Chapter 1: My Name is Sakura!**

Twelve years ago, a Nine-Tailed Fox suddenly appeared, its tails lashed out, smashing mountains and sending tidal waves crashing to the shores. The ninja rose up to defend their villages. One Shinobi faced the Nine-Tailed Fox in mortal combat, he sacrificed his life to capture the beast and seal it inside a human child.

This is, however, not that child's story.

* * *

A young girl raced through the streets of the hidden leaf, her red dress flowing behind her as she dodged through the bustling crowds as though her life depended on it. She ducked between the legs of a rather surprised gentleman, her pink hair cascading behind her as she jumped to her feet and allowed her momentum to carry her above a young couple enjoying the sunny day and cool winds.

'Finally!' her destination was in sight and, with it, her goal. The end of her several-year long enslavement. The key to her freedom. The thought brought a wide grin to her face.

'Sha!' Her inner self shouted, 'Today's the day I finally graduate!'

Her thoughts briefly drifted to her future as a ninja, as she imagined going on cool missions and saving the village from evil monsters and invaders. Although such fantasies were brief, the momentary diversion was enough to break her focus. The resulting crash was a surprise to perhaps only two students at the academy.

The pink haired academy student found herself sprawled on the ground, tenderly rubbing the bump forming on her head tenderly. She looked up at the object she had collided with, only to find a blue haired girl around her own age. Her eyes narrowed as the usual anger that filled her when she set her eyes upon _that_ girl boiled to the surface.

"Watch where you're going, Hyuuga!" The venom in her voice was evident, and for a moment, white eyes stared back at her in blank surprise.

That moment did not last long, and the blue-haired Hyuuga's eyes narrowed into a piercing glare. She spat out in response, with matching venom, "You were the one crashing into me. Perhaps if you were as good a ninja as you are a scholar, you wouldn't be on the ground like a child, loser."

A vein threatened to pop on the pink haired girl's forehead. The last thing that she needed today was that girl mouthing off to her today. "Why don't you get off your high horse, I wouldn't have run into you if you're weren't so blind, princess!"

Both girls had risen to their feet by this point, glaring daggers into each others eyes. With every insult the two had moved closer and closer until the tips of their noses were practically touching. A crowd of other students had begun to gather around them to watch the spectacle unfolding.

"There they go again, they fight like boys!" One female student said in annoyance. A few cheers of 'go Hinata!' could be heard from the watching boys.

However, all such words fell upon deaf ears, the two warring women were far too rapt by their daily argument to be paying any attention. The argument had escalated further, and it appeared as though the two were about to attack each other. Perhaps if the two had been listening, they would have heard a panicked shout of warning, "Akamaru, no!"

Instead, the only warning that Hinata had was an object colliding with the back of her head. Hinata's head was thrust forward towards her rival, knocking both girls to the ground.

For a moment the cheers stopped as the crowd, and the young rivals, processed what had just happened. They didn't get long to process as cheers rang out from most of the boys. Both of the girls' faces flushed in embarrassment as the fact that their lips were now pressed against each others finally sunk in.

* * *

When Iruka entered his classroom, he had many expectations. He expected his class to be even rowdier than usual in anticipation for his graduation exam. He also expected two future kunoichi to be on the verge of destroying his classroom, and the rest of his class egging them on. What he did not expect was for the room to be deathly silent. Iruka glanced around the room in surprise, eyes worriedly appraising each student. His eyes narrowed in confusion as he realized that something was very wrong.

* * *

"Sakura Haruno!"

Iruka's voice snapped Sakura out of her self pitying reverie just fast enough for her to call out, "I'm here!"

Sakura's out a lengthy sigh and slumped into her chair, actively trying not to glance across the room at her rival. She had purposefully placed herself at the farthest seat from Hinata Hyuuga that she could manage. Neither she nor the Hyuuga could manage to look at the other, both were far too embarrassed.

Thoughts of her accidental kiss with the Hyuuga heiress brought to mind the cause of her public humiliation. Kiba Inuzuka. Him and his blasted dog!

Sakura once again let out a sigh before she let her gaze wander over her classmates. Ino Yamanaka was gossiping with several other female classmates. When she noticed Sakura looking she smiled and waved happily back at her, a gesture which Sakura returned. Shikamaru Nara was asleep at his desk beside Chouji Akimichi, who was contentedly feasting upon a bag of potato chips.

Off in the far corner of the room sat Shino Aburame. Sakura's eyes passed right over him onto the person sitting nearby. Kiba Inuzuka was obviously fawning over something - him and half of the class - and against her better judgment, she allowed her eyes to drift to the target of his affections.

Hinata Hyuuga sat beside a window, gazing out to the sky with a perpetual glare set on her face. The boys around her were all gazing at her as though she were the queen of the whole darn world. Sakura had always resented Hinata - when they first met and Hinata was just a weak, timid child, she had resented her; when she had arrived at school after weeks of absence and had suddenly decided to act all 'too cool for you' as her inner thoughts had worded it, she had resented her; when she had progressed faster than any other student in their class to become the top student, she had resented her more than anything else. Everything about Hinata Hyuuga infuriated her, and the feeling was mutual.

Before she could continue her inner rant against the prissy Hyuuga, a boisterous laugh from the hallway interrupted her. Sakura turned her gaze on the doorway in time to see two boys cross the threshold. One, with hair hair and even darker eyes, walked calmly, smiling at the boy beside him. The other boy held himself with an obviously undeserved self confidence, his hand interlocked behind his golden hair as he boasted of something inconsequential to his companion.

"Naruto, Sasuke, you're late again!" Iruka scolded the two. The dark haired one, Sasuke, bowed respectfully to Iruka and politely begged his pardon. Naruto, - the blonde one in bright orange - meanwhile, scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

"Sorry Iruka-sensei! Sasuke and I got distracted this morning!" Naruto said with only a shred of remorse. The display brought a grimace to Sakura's face, but she found her eyes drawn off of Naruto and onto the boy next to him. Sasuke Uchiha was one of the class' top students, proficient with taijutsu and even rumoured to be capable of advance ninjutsu. More than talented though, he was kind, polite, and humble; he was the total opposite of the boy beside him. Naruto Uzumaki was often seen as Sasuke's best friend, but the two couldn't be more different! Where Sasuke was talented, Naruto couldn't even complete the Clone Jutsu; where Sasuke was calm and collected, Naruto was brash and loud; where Sasuke was polite, Naruto was disrespectful to everyone!

"Please just take your seats," Iruka sighed at the boy's antics. He looked around the room once before addressing the entire class, "Welcome to your final day of classes! As you're all aware, today we will be examining you on all aspects of your shinobi skills. Your knowledge, Taijutsu, and Ninjutsu will all be tested."

Iruka and the other instructors began to hand out tests to the class until each student had an exam booklet. The moment Sakura got the go-ahead to begin, she was off like a bullet.

'Tests like these are a piece of cake!' her inner thoughts cried out in self satisfaction, smirking to herself as she filled out another three answers, 'For the most part, this exam is truly a test of memorization, however...'

Sakura let her thoughts drift as she arrived at one of the test's true questions, 'However, there's more to it. They're also trying to gauge our critical thinking skills. Some of these questions are designed to make us slip up, and if you aren't paying attention...'

Sakura filled in several of the trick questions in quick succession, the test was honestly beginning to bore her. She took a moment to stretch and glance around at her classmates, attempting to gauge how they were fairing. Most were busily working away at their papers, while others were visibly struggling. Naruto and Kiba in particular seemed to be having a rough go. Shikamaru on the other hand appeared to already be asleep on his desk. Sakura grimaced and a voice in her mind berated the Nara for his laziness, he hadn't even bothered to fill out half of his test! Her eyes fell upon Sasuke and lingered longer than the rest, watching him calmly fill out his answers with a smile. Just as was to be expected from the brother of... Sakura shook her self of such thoughts, Sasuke would not appreciate such a comparison. As her eyes drifted again, they came across her greatest rival. Hinata Hyuuga sat, arms crossed, exam complete on the table in front of her. Sakura's eyes widened in shock. She was done. She was already done and Sakura had barely gotten three fourths of the way through! The Hyuuga's gaze shifted, she piercing white eyes gazing straight at Sakura.

With a returned glare, Sakura went straight back to work, intent on outdoing the prissy little Hyuuga.

* * *

The Taijutsu exam had been simple. Each student had been called away to spar against an instructor who would gauge that student's skills. Sakura herself had done fairly well, scoring several blows against the instructor. She wasn't informed of her grade, but Sakura was confident that she had passed with flying colours.

After all the taijutsu examinations had been finished, Iruka called the class to attention once more. "Alright everyone, it's time we move on to the final portion of your graduation exam: Ninjutsu."

Murmurs of excitement ran through the class like ripples across water but Iruka continued on, "I will call each of you up to demonstrate two jutsu: the Transformation Jutsu and the Clone Jutsu. Just as with each of your other tests, if you fail these, you will not become Genin."

Sakura, along with the rest of the class, fell silent at his words. He had not made a deal about failing the other tests, but something about his casual remark set everyone on edge. For Sakura however, all it did was steel her determination. 'This is it! Sha! The final wall between me and my destiny!'

Sakura spent all of ten minutes spaced out, imagining her exciting life as a Kunoichi before Iruka called a name that caught her interest: her own.

"Yes, Iruka-sensei!" Sakura called out in a hurry as she rushed down, hoping she didn't looking flustered at being caught daydreaming. Sakura reached the bottom of the steps of the classroom with a hop, practically bursting with excitement. "I'm ready to begin, Iruka-sensei!"

"Alright, Sakura, you may begin." Iruka said with a warm smile, folding his hands on the desk in front of him. The other instructors beside him readied their notes.

Sakura brought her hands together to begin infusing chakra. Focusing her mental and physical energy together, she focused on the image of Iruka in her mind. Willing her chakra to take shape around her, she activated her Transformation justu. A plume of smoke erupted around her, hiding her visage from view momentarily; once the smoke cleared, Sakura was revealed to have taken on the perfectly accurate visage of Iruka. The instructors grading her were furiously taking notes as Iruka congratulated her. Sakura wasn't done, however, and instead of dropping her jutsu, she brought her hands into another hand seal and separated her chakra. In the midst of her first jutsu, she began running through other seals and moments later the front of the room erupted in more plumes of smoke. Once it had cleared, nine new figures revealed themselves, each with a self satisfied smirk on their face. Iruka was joined by nine of his fellow instructors, including the four sitting at his side. Each one of them was a perfect copy of their respective originals.

The instructors burst into applause at the display, Iruka congratulated Sakura, "Very impressive Sakura, to perform both jutsu simultaneously was an inspired idea – and to apply and maintain ten different Transformations to yourself and nine clones is no small feat."

"Thanks Iruka Sensei!" The Sakura disguised as Iruka said and she cheered herself on. Inside her head though, she shouted in triumph, 'Sha! Let's see little-miss-perfect top that! I bet she's... shaking in her..."

Before Sakura was able to complete her thought, her vision clouded over and darkness threatened to take her. The front of the room exploded into smoke and Sakura felt herself falling, only to be stopped by strong feminine arms as they caught her mid-air. The calm, aggravating voice of her saviour spoke out, "You should be careful, you used up all of your chakra on that cheap trick. Loser."

Sakura's face burned with the embarrassment of being rescued by her rival. So much so that she didn't even register as she was helped back to her seat, or when a headband was handed to her, or the gossip of her fainting, or when Hinata passed her own test. In fact, Sakura spent the next forty minutes in a daze, awakened only by a call of, "Sasuke Uchiha."

Sakura was straight to attention in a moment. She watched as Sasuke calmly approached the front, stopping and bowing respectfully once he was before the examination desk. Sakura watched as he brought his hands together and moments later transformed into a man with long, straight brown hair that cascaded down his back. He wore black garments, but was sheathed in red armour. She briefly wondered who the man was before he transformed back into Sasuke. "Very impressive Sasuke! I'm surprised that you chose that man though. Regardless, from what I know that was a very accurate Transformation Jutsu."

"Well, he is, in many ways, my hero; I look up to him. I can think of no ninja who better demonstrates our village's Will of Fire." Sakura could hear the pride radiating from Sasuke's voice as he spoke of his idol, and she once again wondered who the armoured man was. Sasuke didn't waste time as he performed his Clone Jutsu, creating ten clones. The instructors casually marked down his progress, before handing him his very own headband and congratulating him.

It was at this very moment that Sakura realized that she was in fact holding something in her left hand it was small, and became aware of the feel of cloth against her palm. Her eyes slowly drifted down to her hand and she turned the object to face her. The object in her hands suddenly seemed much heavier. More than heavy, the item in her hand seemed to weigh more than her entire life up until this moment as a single thought ran through her head.

'I'm a ninja... _I'm_ a ninja. I'm a ninja!' Sakura rose to her feet and cried out in joy as everything finally sunk into her mind. "Woohoo!"

The class fell silent as Sakura's cry caught the entire room's attention. Sakura slowly slunk into her seat again with a muffled apology before the room erupted into laughter.

A cough from Iruka brought the class's attention back to him as he called out the next name on his list, "Naruto Uzumaki!"

The class burst into laughter, "Yeah, go show them dead last!"

"Naruto can't even create a Clone, just fail him now!" another boy called out.

Naruto seemed to ignore them as he stalked towards the front, hands buried in his pockets. As he reached the bottom of the stairs though, he spun around and thrust a finger towards the class, "Quit laughing at me! Im gonna show all of you, I'm gonna pass this test and then I'm gonna become the next Hokage! Believe it!"

Naruto's outburst only succeeded in spurring the class's taunting forward until Iruka called a stop to it. Iruka then turned to face Naruto himself, "Alright Naruto, I want you to perform the Transformation Justu, and try to take it seriously this time."

Naruto widened his stance and formed the seal for the transformation jutsu, obviously focusing his all on infusing his Chakra. Moments later Naruto was engulfed in a plume of smoke before being replaced by a dark haired man in red white robes, accented with red flames. Sakura immediately new what Naruto had done. He had once again transformed into a deformed version of the Lord Hokage. Sakura sighed in exasperation as Iruka once again scolded Naruto for making a mockery of their Hokage. "Fine, Fine, I was just having some fun, y'know?"

Naruto once again formed the hand seals and this time, when he emerged from the smoke he was instead replaced by what Sakura could only describe as a perfect copy of the Hokage, from her limited experience with the man at least. Three of the instructors looked impressed, the other two simply looked angry.

"Ha! See? See? I told you it was no problem," Naruto boasted, to the class and to Iruka himself.

"Yeah, but you still can't even make a clone, you're such a loser!" the boy from earlier called out again, drawing Iruka's attention.

"I said enough!" Iruka began to scold him, but before he could, Naruto interrupted him.

"Oh yeah?! Just you watch!" Naruto once again brought his hands into a seal and began to infuse chakra, his face was scrunched and his eyes shut in concentration. And a moment later a poof of smoke popped to his left, revealing: a deformed and almost intangible Naruto. The entire class erupted into near-uncontrollable laughter.

"Naruto!" Sasuke's voice rang out through the crowd, silencing all of them. "Stop playing around and get serious before they fail you."

Sakura – and the rest of the class for that matter – looked at Sasuke incredulously.

"Yeah, yeah, sorry Sasuke. I thought I could get it that time!" Naruto smirked and brought his hands together, "But it's time to use _that_ jutsu."

Forty poofs of smoke throughout the room silenced the class as forty copies of Naruto appeared across the room, inhabiting most of the classroom's empty space. The students couldn't believe their eyes, and the instructors were having trouble believing what they had just witnessed. Iruka was the first to speak up, "N-Naruto, that jutsu is..."

The original Naruto's face was plastered with a self satisfied smirk, "Secret Ninja Art: Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu."

Sakura overheard the student sitting beside Sasuke ask how Naruto knew the Clone Jutsu, to which Sasuke addressed the nearby students, "Naruto could never learn the Clone Jutsu, no matter how many hundreds of times he tried, but Lord Hokage believed he could learn this technique, so he taught him this Jutsu one day ago."

"So, Iruka-sensei, I better pass this time, ya know?" Naruto asked, turning to Iruka with a massive grin painted across his face.

Iruka smiled back at him, "Congratulations, Naruto, you're a ninja."

"Yahoo!" Naruto shouted as he jumped in the air and pumped his fist.

"Wow, it took Lord Hokage to teach him the Clone Jutsu?" Sakura caught one of the nearby students whispering.

"Isn't that kinda cheating though?" Another student replied.

"Yeah, it's not like any of us got to train under Lord Hokage, and we all passed!" This student voiced their opinions loud enough that several other students heard.

"And he barely even passed!"

"Yeah, it's like cheating!"

"Who does this guy think he is, getting training from the Hokage?!"

"What a loser!"

The entire class had devolved into laughter at Naruto's expense, before Iruka had even had the chance to mediate. As it turns out, Iruka need not have intervened as Naruto's voice broke through the heckling class, "Don't you call me a loser! It only makes sense that I get training from the Hokage, I'm gonna be Hokage one day, then you'll all stop looking down on me and look _up_ to me, you can believe it!"

A chuckle radiated out from the door. It was slow, deep, and it encompassed her and her classmates in a feeling of safety and contentment. Sakura immediately knew to whom the laugh belonged; After all, only one man could evoke such feelings from her and those surrounding her, only one ninja could deliver on such feelings: the Hokage. Only the Hokage, he who had watched over the village for years, could deliver such assurance.

"I _do_ believe it, Naruto." The class fell silent as Naruto proudly walked back to his seat beside Sasuke. The shocked looks on her classmates faces were put to rest as the Hokage continued, "Just as I believe every ninja here has the potential to one day become Hokage."

After seemingly appeasing the students, the Hokage took the time to speak with Irua before turning to address the classroom as a whole. Sakura took the opportunity to study the man known as the strongest ninja in the Hidden Leaf. Like his forebears, he wore the white and red robes that marked his station, though he had forgone the ceremonial hat and his smooth dark hair flowed free. His dark gaze swept over the class several times before he began his speech. "I was far younger than you when I entered the ninja world. I joined a legacy of war and darkness, and I dedicated myself to repairing the damage those who came before had done. In my years as your Hokage, I have striven to bridge bonds between our allies and enemies alike, and although success has been scarce, I am certain that it is your generation that shall change this world forever. Naturally, it fills me with pride to see you here, smiling, ready to change this world as Shinobi of the Hidden Leaf!"

Sakura looked at the Hokage with awe, his speech had been inspiring for her, although she had expected no less from the man hailed as the Guardian Wing, Itachi Uchiha. Sakura let her mind wander to her rival's cold glare from earlier, and she shivered in remembrance. She wondered again who the man Sasuke had transformed into was, and why he looked so familiar. She also thought of Naruto and his success with the clone jutsu. She wondered how he'd managed to conquer his greatest weakness so completely, was it truly just because of the Hokage...? Sakura shook her head and once again brought her focus to the exam. Today was the end of her old life, and she couldn't wait for tomorrow to begin.


	2. Naruto and Hinata! Friend or Foe?

**Naruto: Daughters of Sun and Moon**

 **Chapter 2: Naruto and Hinata – Friend or Foe!?**

Sakura Haruno awoke to rays of light streaming through her window. Were it any other day, the young girl would have struggled to waken, huffing and complaining as her parents attempted to coax her out of bed. Today, however, was not just any other day. It was – as a point of fact – the day of the Genin team selections; and as such, Sakura was all the more motivated to force her way out of bed.

She grumbled as she pried and untangled herself out from under the sheets and shook out her long pink hair. Sitting up, she stretched her arms above and let out a rather inelegant yawn and as she turned to her window, she attempted to estimate the time. She figured the sun was still low in the sky, based on the angle of the golden rays streaming between her blinds. She could make out a dark navy sky, slowly shifting towards the bright blue of morning as she stood and began to dress for the day.

As she slipped on the last of her gear, her eyes wondered her bedroom. It was sparsely decorated and immaculately kept. The only object of interest being the pink sheets that covered her bed. For a moment, she felt cramped, all the furniture – her desk, her wardrobe, her bed, everything suddenly constricting; then, all at once, the feeling was gone.

Sakura let out a sigh and made her way downstairs, hoping to avoid an encounter with her parents and their overly friendly attitudes. Unfortunately, fate was not so kind, her mother, Mebuki Haruno, was standing at the kitchen counter, humming to herself as she prepared breakfast. Before Sakura even had a chance to sneak past her, Mebuki turned to face her, a large smile lighting up her face. "Oh, Sakura, you're up early! Are you excited about today? What can I get my special girl for breakfast on her big day?"

Sakura simply grimaced and groaned, "Just something quick, mom. I want to get out as soon as possible."

Mebuki frowned momentarily, but it was quickly replaced by a new smile, "Alright, I'll whip something up."

* * *

Sakura stepped out onto the street and, to her surprise, met a purple gaze across the street. She smiled and raised an arm in greeting.

"Hey Sakura!" Ino called out as she crossed the street to walk along side her friend, "I guess you're anxious too, right? That's why you're out so early?"

"Ah, yeah, I guess so," Sakura let an embarrassed chuckle escape her lips as she answered, then she raised her hands in front of her in a sign of determination. "Really though, I'm more excited that anything!"

Ino laughed in response, adding, "Yeah, that too, definitely."

Then she grew more serious, "Hey, Sakura, how do bet they're gonna pick our teams?"

Sakura looked at her thoughtfully, truthfully she had never even considered it, "Hmm, maybe it'll be randomized? Oh, maybe we'll even get to pick our own teams!"

Ino laughed with her at the thought, "Well, I dunno about that..."

Ino fell silent, staring at the ground before her. "Hey... Sakura, what do you want most?"

"Huh?" Sakura looked at her friend in bewilderment, what was that supposed to mean? "What's up with you, asking something like that?"

"When I came down today, Dad asked me about my "dreams for the future", at first I couldn't give him an answer but... I've been thinking about teams and I just know I'm gonna be placed with Shikamaru and Chouji. And that's not so bad!" Ino had started out speaking slowly and softly, but it seemed as though with every word she became more and passionate. She was now gazing in front of them, eyes lit with an intense determination. "Because my goal is to become the strongest kunoichi, no, the strongest _shinobi_ that the Yamanaka clan has ever produced! I'll make our Ino-Shika-Cho the one to remember above all the others!"

Sakura looked at her friend with a sense of joy, but also... something else. Bewilderment? Yeah, Ino had never been so passionate about anything in her life, seeing her talk with the same kind of passion that Naruto often exuded was bewildering. Yeah, that was it.

"So what's yours?" Ino asked, now looking straight at Sakura.

"Huh? What do you mean, my what?"

"Your _dream_ of course, why did you want to be a ninja?"

"Why did I... want to be a ninja?" Sakura asked, startled by the question. Sakura's brow furrowed as she considered the question, "I... wanted to escape."

Ino stared at her much like Sakura imagined she herself had stared at Ino moments earlier. She was about to enter into her own explanation when she realized that they'd arrived at the academy already. "Oh, look, we'd better get to the team assignments!"

Before Ino could respond, Sakura had already run through the doors and into the hallways beyond. She may have run away from Ino, but the question wasn't so easy to escape from. It haunted her all the way to her seat. Truthfully, Sakura wasn't entirely sure why she considered it her destiny to be a ninja. Her parents had never become anything more than chunin. They'd even retired from active duty when she was born, and spent all of their time meddling in her affairs. Regardless, for as long as she remembered, she had wanted nothing more than to be a Kunoichi. She just didn't have any reason why. And she was a kunoichi now. So what should she do now? What did she even want to do.

Iruka's call for the ninjas' attention wrestled her free from her thoughts and brought her focus abruptly to him. Iruka had already started calling out teams.

'Sha! We're so stupid, what if we've already missed ours!' Inner Sakura wailed in panic and Sakura focused wholeheartedly on her sensei. 'Sha, he's already called six whole teams! What if-'

"Team Seven will be Sakura Haruno-"

"Sha! That's right!" Sakura had risen to her feet and called out in excitement with utter disregard to the looks her classmates were giving her. She didn't have time to even contemplate embarrassment, as the next two words out of Iruka's mouth shattered her world. She sunk back into her seat dejectedly. 'This is the worst, how could this have happened. I would rather _anyone_ but..."

"...Hinata Hyuuga..."

Well, maybe her other teammate wouldn't be so bad. After all, maybe it would be someone like Sasuke. It would even be fine if it was Kiba, he'd annoy Hinata even more than he'd annoy her. Anyone would be better than Hinata.

"...And Naruto Uzumaki..."

"Believe it!"

"...Your Sensei will be Kakashi Hatake." A loud thump echoed through the classroom as Sakura's forehead possibly dented the wooden desk she was sitting at. Ignoring her, Iruka continued. "Team Eight will be Shino Aburame, Kiba Inuzuka, and Sasuke Uchiha. Your Sensei will be Kurenai Yuhi."

'Shaaaaaa... Why couldn't we be on a team with Sasuke. I'd even take bug boy if I needed to...' Inner Sakura thought to herself, only rising from her self-imposed agony at the mention of Ino's name. "Team Ten will be Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, and Chouji Akimichi, and your Sensei with be Asuma Sarutobi."

"We'll take a lunch so you can get acquainted with your new teammates. Be back in one hour to meet your sensei."

Sakura's gaze darted around the room as most of her classmates formed up with their new teammates. Ino seemed to be lecturing Shikamaru and Chouji, Sasuke and Kiba had their gazes locked as Shino watched them, a few of the other teams were already out of the room, Hinata was almost at the door. Sakura didn't like Hinata. She practically despised her, but they would be on the same team from now on and Sakura decided she'd rather attempt to overcome her dislike of the girl than be stuck on a team with her worst enemy. Perhaps they would even get along if she just tried? Sakura sighed, resigning herself to her fate, but resolved to put her prior differences aside. She moved to follow after her rival, calling out to short-haired Heiress.

"Hey, Hinata! Maybe we should get some lunch together..." Sakura's voice faltered and fell silent as Hinata turned back to her, the heiress' piercing gaze cutting her sentence off.

"Don't kid yourself, loser." Hinata said calmly as she turned and continued out the door.

'Sha! Who does she think she is! I can't believe we're stuck with little miss perfect!' Sakura's mind cried out in anger. Sakura slouched dejectedly, thinking to herself, 'I just wanted to try and be friends... Figures she couldn't grow up.'

Sakura was roused from her thoughts by a hand on her shoulder. She whipped around to meet cerulean eyes staring back at her.

* * *

"So then, right when Sasuke and I thought we'd gotten away with it, big brother steps out of _nowhere_ and says something about us being foolish before he drags us off to his office!" After Hinata had shot down her idea of lunch, Naruto had in turn asked her. Sakura, figuring that it would be hypocritical to say no after her reaction to Hinata's response, had agreed – if perhaps begrudgingly. As it turned out, it wasn't nearly as bad as she had feared it would be.

Sakura burst out laughing, "After all that? How'd he know it was you and not the chunin?"

"I don't know, Sasuke and me can never figure out how Itachi can see through all our pranks, ya know?"

Sakura wiped a tear from her eye as her laughter subsided. She was surprised at how much fun Naruto was to talk with. He wasn't especially bright, but he was nice; and pretty funny too. "What's the deal with you and Sasuke anyway - and Lord Hokage as well? And Sasuke said he taught you the Shadow Clone Jutsu?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head and smiled sheepishly at her. "Sasuke and big bro took me in when I was younger! I don't really understand why, big bro said something about duty and responsibility, but I didn't really get what he was talking about..."

Sakura looked at him in interest, "Lord Hokage took you in? You mean you _live_ with him and Sasuke?"

"Yeah!" Naruto said, smiling broadly before it faltered and fell, "Big bro and Sasuke lost their parents before Sasuke even knew them, so it's just the three of us, ya know."

"That's terrible!" Sakura exclaimed. "I had no idea..."

'Poor Sasuke...' Sakura thought to herself, "Hold on, what about your parents, you didn't mention them at all?"

"Ah, well, that's because.." Naruto scratched the back of his head, smiling sheepishly, "I don't actually know anything about them at all, ya know."

Sakura was shocked into speechlessness. Sakura stared at him and he just continued smiling back at her. She couldn't even process what he'd just said, not attached to the smiling face delivering it. She couldn't see any signs of sorrow or anger on his features and it was utterly perplexing. 'Sha! What's wrong with this kid?'

"Uhm... Oh, look at the time, Naruto, we should probably be heading back to the academy to meet our new sensei." Sakura rapidly stood up and began making her way back to the academy. She didn't quite understand why Naruto's reaction had sent her running, but she didn't plan to turn back. The way he'd just smiled at her while talking had _bothered_ her.

She managed to walk three blocks before coming eye-to-eye with a pair of cold, seemingly endless pools of lavender. Endless pools of lavender whose ire was immediately set upon her, and only her. Sakura decided to resist the irrational urge to punch the owner of said pools in the face, and try once again, in the interest of team cohesion, to reach out to her rival. She spoke as warmly as she could manage, if unevenly "O-oh, hey Hyuuga, I was just getting to know Naruto. Er... do you want to walk back to class with me?"

"Tch, listen, _Haruno_ , we may be teammates, but that just means I'll tolerate your presence." Hinata spoke in a cold, clipped tone. The blue haired girl dug her hands into her pockets and began to turn away. "If you, or Naruto, get in my way, I won't be so _tolerant_."

With those words, Hinata left a fuming Sakura in her wake. 'The nerve of that girl! Sha! I'll show you tolerant!' Sakura's mind raged as she glared at the retreating Hyuuga for several minutes before she too made her way back to class. 'I hope our sensei is easier to get along with than my teammates...'

* * *

"Two. _Hours_!" Sakura shouted from the front of the room as she paced back and forth. "How can a _Jonin_ be _two hours_ late?"

"Maybe he was talking to big bro or something, ya know?"

"Tch, would you two quiet down." Hinata said, gazing intently out the window. Without looking at them, Hinata said in mild exasperation, "He's not going to fall for such a simple trick, Naruto."

Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "Well, I figure he'll show us some kind of super awesome ninja trick then!"

Sakura, who had actually helped Naruto by keeping watch, stuck out her tongue in response. "Sha! Whatever ice-queen."

"Tch."

At once, all three student shinobi turned to face the door as a man with white spiky hair stepped through the door and fell right into the blonde's trap. For a moment, the man stood there, his single eye staring lazily at them. The lower half of the man's face was shrouded in a mask, and his headband was tilted so as to cover one of his eyes. The strange man reached up to grab the chalkboard eraser that Naruto had placed at the top of the door and was now set upon his spiky hair. He looked at the ceiling thoughtfully, musing out loud, "Hmm, my first impression of you guys?"

"You're all a bunch of idiots."

Team seven had convened on the rooftop of the academy. After his strange introduction, the masked man – their Jonin sensei, Kakashi Hatake, as it turned out – had immediately ushered them out of the room and up flights of stairs before settling down in the rooftop garden above the academy. Once the four of them had settled in, Kakashi began to speak, "Now that we're a team, why don't we start by introducing ourselves?"

"Introduce ourselves? What do you mean, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked, not quite sure what it was the Jonin wanted to know about them.

"Things you like, things you hate, dreams for the future, hobbies, that sort of thing."

"You're the stranger to us," Hinata said from her perch near the edge. "Why don't you just go first and show us how it's done."

"Well, alright then. My name is Kakashi Hatake, hmmm, things I like and things I hate? I don't feel like telling you that. My dreams for the future? Never really thought about it before. As for my hobbies... I have lots of hobbies."

"Huh?"

"What?"

"Tch."

"You didn't tell us anything but your name!" both Naruto and Sakura called out simultaneously, 'Just what is wrong with this guy, Shannaro!'

"Well then, why don't _you_ show us how it's done then." Kakashi responded, lazily gesturing at Sakura.

Sakura huffed before clearing her throat, " _My_ name is Sakura Haruno. I like reading and uhm..."

Sakura trailed off, uncertain of what else to say. She quickly shook herself and continued on, "My hobbies include studying, playing trivia games and errr..."

Once again Sakura trailed off, unable to think of anything else, but unsatisfied with her answer, "My dream for the future is to, uhm, become the best ninja I can be! Yeah!"

"I see," Kakashi mused, "and what is it you hate?"

"Hinata!" Sakura immediately responded, glaring angrily at the blue-haired Kunoichi sitting at the edge of the roof, finding her to only be ignoring her.

Kakashi gestured for Naruto to go next and Naruto fiddled with his headband as he introduced himself, "Hi! I'm Naruto Uzumaki, believe it! I like my big bro and Sasuke, and Ichiraku Ramen. I hate the 3 minutes it takes to make instant ramen. My hobbies include playing pranks with Sasuke and eating different kinds of ramen to compare flavours! My dream for the future... Well, everyone knows my dream and I'll say it again! I'm gonna be the next Hokage and follow after my big bro and everyone who came before me! You better believe it!

Sakura looked at Naruto in shock. Sure, like everyone else, Sakura had heard him talk about his dream of becoming Hokage before; however, never before had she seen this look of determination in his eyes. A look that she had seen in Ino's eyes earlier that day.

Hinata barely even seemed to register that the rest of them were listening to her, she just continued gazing out across the village, "I'm Hinata Hyuuga. I don't really like anything, but there's one thing that I hate. My only hobby is training. What I have is more of an ambition... because I _will_ make it reality. I plan to save someone very important to me, return honour to the Hyuuga name, and in doing so, destroy a certain someone."

When Hinata turned back to face them, her features were set in determination and veins visibly throbbed beside each of her eyes. The lavender irises that were normally smooth and empty were now marred by the echo of pupils. Slowly her eyes returned to normal, though the determination didn't fade. Sakura shuddered, for reasons she could hardly figure out. Kakashi's gaze swept over them one last time before he began to speak up. "I see we have an interesting team here. However, you're not quite a team yet."

This caught Sakura off guard, "What? What are you talking about sensei?"

Kakashi chuckled to himself, "I could tell you, but... you won't like it."

"What are you talking about Sensei? Tell us, y'know!" Naruto blurted out.

"Of the twenty-seven genin that passed this year, only about one in three will actually become genin. The rest will be weeded out and sent back to the academy."

"What! But we passed the tests, we're genin! This isn't fair." Sakura yelled at Kakashi, her right hand unconsciously moving to twirl a strand of her pink hair around a finger. Although only Naruto voiced his agreement with her, Hinata's expression left no doubts as to her position on the matter.

"Oh, those tests were just to choose potential candidates who _might_ get in. Tomorrow morning at 7:00 AM, you will all take a sort of... Survival exercise." Kakashi continued, ignoring any further complaints, "Oh, and don't eat breakfast."

"Huh? Why not Kakashi-Sensei?" Naruto asked, eyes scrunched in confusion.

"Because you'll throw up." Kakashi said simply, and somehow, Sakura knew he was grinning at them.

* * *

Sakura begrudgingly took a seat across from her mother and father. She hadn't taken much for dinner, and was spending much more time twirling a lock of hair around her ring index finger than eating. A fact that her parents barely noticed.

"So, honey, how was your first day as a ninja?" Sakura's mother asked, brushing her blonde hair out of her eyes.

Her father let out a hearty laugh, "I hope your sensei's not going easy on you!"

Sakura, for her part, stared glumly at her food, giving a token response of, "It was alright," before eating what little food was on her plate.

"You know, honey, you really should eat more, it's not healthy to starve yourself." Her mother scolded her, a frown set upon her face. "Maybe you should get some more-"

Sakura abruptly stood up and began heading upstairs, "Sorry, I'm just not feeling very hungry tonight, and I had a pretty large lunch. I'm gonna head to bed.

With that Sakura slowly trekked her way upstairs, practically collapsing into her bed when she finally reached it – not from exhaustion, but from something different, a dark, wretched feeling that clutched at her heart. As her head lay pressed against her pillow, Sakura clutched her sheets close to her chest. 'Why don't I feel that way.'

"What's _wrong_ with me."

With a single, final thought, Sakura allowed the cool embrace of darkness to take her.


	3. Pass or Fail: Sakura's Determination!

**Naruto: Daughters of Sun and Moon**

 **Pass or Fail: Sakura's Determination!**

Sakura Haruno was no stranger to early mornings. Every morning, Sakura was easily capable of rising before the break of dawn, well rested and ready for the day ahead. She often arrived early to class, having asked for extra lessons or for use of training equipment. In fact, some might even call Sakura a morning person. Those people would be wrong. It was not that Sakura particularly _liked_ getting up early, she just wanted to keep ahead, _stay_ ahead; point of fact, the only times Sakura ever arrived early, were days following tests where she had scored particularly low. The truth of the matter was that Sakura despised early mornings.

So it was that, as Sakura walked from her home to training ground seven, she cursed their sensei with every step and breath. 'Blasted, confounded Jonin! Who does he think he is!? '

Her return to reality was twofold, for as her stomach growled, reminding her of her terrible life choices the night before, a voice called out from behind her, "Hey, Sakura!"

Turning grouchily to face the newcomer, Sakura found her mood surprisingly brightened. "Hey Naruto! I didn't expect you to actually be on time today."

Falling into step, Naruto stuck out his tongue at her. "Well, Sasuke also had an early meeting with his team today, so he forced me out on time..."

She thought she heard him mutter something about talking to someone alone, but she couldn't be sure. She giggled at the thought of Sasuke kicking Naruto out of bed, "Well, I guess that means Sasuke's the responsible one!"

"Hey! I'm plenty responsible, believe it!" Naruto called back to her, pouting.

'Quiet down! It's too early in the morning to deal with your special brand of loudness, sha!' Sakura's mind mused. She answered "Oh, please, I bet you barely know the meaning of the _word_ responsible."

"Bah, well who cares what you think anyway!" Naruto said as he moved to rest his hands on the back of his head, leaning into them. "What do you think Kakashi-sensei has planned for us?"

"Maybe we'll have to spend a week in the wild? He said it was some kind of survival exercise right?"

"Bah..." Naruto trailed off, as though thinking about it deeply. "I really want ramen right now!"

Sakura nearly hit him. She honestly would have had they not arrived at their destination as she considered it. Even that still would not have stopped her on any other day; Instead, what stopped Sakura Haruno from decking Naruto Uzumaki in his infuriating little whiskered face was a cold gaze from a girl – a gaze which Sakura Haruno refused to back down from.

In the centre of the clearing that their sensei had promised to meet them, stood Hinata Hyuuga, leaning against a strange stone. Her arms were folded to her chest and she had changed out of her regular clothing. Her dark blue and dark lavender hoodie was still present, but it was pulled even tighter against her form than usual. A black sash with a symbol Sakura assumed to be the Hyuuga clan insignia hung from her waist, pulled high on her right so as to leave access to the ninja tool holster on her thigh. A white scarf tied above that sash kept her blue and purple hoodie tight against her frame, one end trailing to her knees to contrast against her loose fitting lavender pants. Her Hidden Leaf headband was loosely affixed around her neck.

She looked utterly ridiculous, in Sakura's expert opinion, being what she considered a veritable queen of fashion. Those colours didn't mix at all! Not to mention that the whole getup made her look-

"Wow, Hinata! Your new outfit looks great!"

For a moment, Sakura could only stare on incredulously, betrayal surging through her and colouring her face. She needed to regroup, it wouldn't do to simply question her teammate's choice of clothing _now,_ she would need to take another approach. Sakura put on a fake smile, adopting a tone similar to those used to communicate to children, "Hyuuga, so good to see you so early in the morning! And your new outfit is simply... inspired! You must have taken cues from sensei... or maybe Kiba?"

Sakura had hoped the sarcasm would at least sting the white-eyed girl; instead, Hinata's gaze met her own and the girl simply clicked her tongue in annoyance.

Sakura's shoulders fell in defeat. 'Sha! She's like a castle of ice!'

"Uhm... so, Hinata, do you know where Kakashi-sensei is?" Naruto asked from his place beside her, his voice sounded strained and awkward, seemingly struggling to break what she only now realized was a several minute silence. "We're due to start any minute now, right?"

"I have not seen him approach." Hinata spoke with slow deliberation. Sakura remembered her speaking with a similar tone as she introduced herself the previous day.

"Right..." Sakura gave Hinata a sidelong glance, unsure of why the girl would have been able to see Kakashi's approach in the first place with all the trees in the way. "Well, I guess we should just wait here then..."

Hinata simply ignored her, instead glancing over to their blonde teammate. "Good morning, Naruto."

Sakura let out a sigh, she was already tired of today and it wasn't even seven in the morning. Kakashi had better get here soon.

* * *

Sakura was, for perhaps the first time in her life, in agreement with Hinata. It was not a a verbal agreement, as neither girl could stand to speak to the other – or anyone, at the moment, for that matter – but for the time being at least, there was an unspoken sense of accord. Kakashi-sensei was the worst teacher ever.

They had been waiting for hours, what felt like _days_ and Sakura was tired of it. She had been able to stave off the first 10 minutes of boredom talking with Naruto about what the test might encompass, and the next 45 minutes glaring into the back of Hinata's head when Naruto went to talk with her. Another 30 minutes were spent regretting her decision not to join them when Naruto asked. After that, she had ended up simply sprawled on the grass, looking up at the sky until she lost track of time.

Sakura allowed her head to fall against the grass and her gaze to fall with it upon the trio of logs propped up at the clearing's edge. The clock resting upon middle log informed her that it was 9:10. Sakura squinted at the clock. That was odd, she hadn't remembered there _being_ a clock there. Nor did she remember the gloved hand resting upon it...

"You!" Sakura immediately sat up to thrust an accusing finger at the newcomer.

All as one, the three Genin of Team Seven shouted, "You're late!"

"Sorry," the masked Jonin responded, continuing thoughtfully "But a black cat crossed my path, so I had to retrace my steps."

Sakura – and the other Genin for that matter – fell silent in bewilderment. 'Sha...' Sakura's mind spoke, unusually subdued from surprise, 'Is this guy serious?'

Kakashi lazily flicked a switch on the small clock, speaking in the same bored tone as usual, "Well, now that all four of us have arrived, I'll explain the details of this test."

Kakashi reached into his back pocket and all three Genin focused their attention on him. Kakashi withdrew two small bells from his pouch and held them out for them to see clearly, "Your mission is to take these bells from me before lunch."

"What? So all we have to do is grab some lame bells from you? There are three of us! This is gonna be easy, ya know!"

There was a glint in Kakashi's eye that almost froze Sakura in fear. She very nearly didn't voice her question, but it was bothering her far too much for her to let it go unspoken, "Kakashi-sensei... There are three of us, so why are there only two bells?"

The glint in Kakashi's eye, impossibly, seemed to grow, even as he closed it in what she assumed to be a smile, "Well that's because only two of you can pass this test. The one who fails to get a bell will be sent back to the academy."

Sakura was instantly on edge, glancing anxiously around at her teammates – no, her rivals.

"Oh, and if you have any intention of taking these bells," Kakashi paused to look each Genin straight in the eyes. "You had best come at me with the intent to kill me. That means shuriken, kunai, jutsu, use everything at your disposal to take me down."

"What if we hurt you, sensei!" Sakura asked Kakashi in concern. Kakashi's silence was answer enough.

"Well then, I take it we all understand where things stand?" Each Genin nodded in affirmation, "Then we'll begin."

"Scatter!"

Sakura jumped away to find a hiding place, not liking the idea of fighting Kakashi immediately. She assumed – correctly – that her rivals would do the same.

It was ten minutes later that Sakura found Naruto standing at the edge of a clearing in the trees, across from Kakashi. For whatever reason, Naruto seemed to have decided that he would take Kakashi head on. Maybe it was a trick from Kakashi?

"Alright, Kakashi-sensei, prepare to surrender that bell!" Naruto shouted from one edge of the clearing. No, that was definitely her teammate. "I'm gonna show you the power of a future Hokage!"

"You know, compared to the other two," Sakura could just barely hear what Kakashi was saying from her distance. "You're rather dim."

Kakashi's comment seemed to spur Naruto into action, and the blonde ninja charged their sensei. Kakashi didn't even need to try as he backhanded Naruto to the side. To Sakura's surprise, Naruto disappeared into smoke as he hit the ground. She immediately caught Naruto, the real one, aiming a punch at the back of Kakashi's head. Instead though, Kakashi whirled and knocked his punch to the side. Switching directions, Kakashi landed a spinning kick to Naruto's side and sent him tumbling to the ground.

She saw Kakashi reach into his weapons pouch. 'No, Naruto. Kakashi never said anything about _him_ using weapons.'

Kakashi, however, withdrew no weapons. Instead, Kakashi withdrew a small orange book from the pouch and flipped it open. Kakashi actually seemed to be _reading_ instead of paying attention to Naruto. 'Is this the power of a Jonin...?'

Naruto charged Kakashi but even the flurry of blows unleashed by her blonde teammate failed to land a single hit on Kakashi, who at this point was reading his book while he lazily deflected Naruto's onslaught.

Abandoning his attempts at single combat, Naruto formed one hand seal before calling out, "Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Instantly, the clearing was filled to the brim with more Naruto clones than she could count. She couldn't even fathom that many. Briefly, she wondered how many Shadow Clones Kakashi could make. Something must have set him off, because a moment later five Naruto clones standing in front of Kakashi charged forward. Still reading his book, Kakashi flipped over one, kicking two others into oblivion in mid air. He landed in a crouch before flowing into a three hundred sixty degree legs sweep that knocked each of the surrounding clones away.

"Naruto never stood a chance..." Sakura thought as she watched one of the Naruto clones disappear towards the back of the melee. The clone beside it threw the first kunai of the fight, which Kakashi barely even seemed to notice as he deftly dodged it. Still the fight waged on, and Sakura didn't see how Naruto could ever make it through-Kakashi was suddenly in a full-nelson, held fast in place by Naruto. 'Sha? When did Naruto manage that? _How_ did Naruto manage that?'

"Checkmate, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura heard Naruto brag, and realized exactly what he had done. Neither her nor Naruto even had time to react as Kakashi disappeared, and left in his place yet another Naruto.

Naruto released his grip on himself and she could see him smirking, "So you think transforming into me will help you Kakashi-sensei!? I'll show you just what I'm capable of!"

'What!? He thinks that Kakashi just transformed into him?!' Sakura almost laughed at the absurdity of it; or, at least she would have, had Naruto not thrown his arms out to the sides, shouted something and the clearing not exploded in a burst of wind a half-second later, 'Sha!? Was that really Naruto?'

It was all for naught.

"You know, you really shouldn't let your enemy get behind you all the time." Kakashi said from his place behind Naruto, having appeared behind him following Naruto's jutsu, hands clasped in a seal over top of his book. 'Oh no! That's the Tiger Seal! That's usually used in Fire Style jutsu, Kakashi's going to _destroy_ him!'

"Hidden Leaf Village Secret Finger Jutsu: One Thousand Years of Death!"

Kakashi shoved his index and middle fingers into Naruto's bottom, thrusting forward and propelling Naruto high into the air. 'That wasn't a jutsu, he just poked him."

Sakura briefly considered attempting to find and assist Naruto. Instead, Sakura decided to follow after Kakashi, to continue her reconnaissance of their strange sensei.

* * *

She followed Kakashi for perhaps ten minutes before he stoppedin yet another clearing. This time, Sakura's blood boiled and her eyes narrowed as she watched Hinata Hyuuga stand calmly at the centre of the clearing.

"You know, a portion of this test is stealth and tactics, it's not very smart to fight someone stronger than you head on." Kakashi said offhandedly.

Sakura didn't hear Hinata's response, if she gave one, before she fell into a taijutsu stance and charged at Kakashi. Closing the gap in an instant, Hinata brought her right leg up in a powerful kick aimed at Kakashi's head, but he Jonin deftly caught the girl's ankle before she could make contact. Quickly, Hinata twisted in his grip, allowing herself bring her left leg down in a hard strike against his head. Once more, Kakashi blocked her would-be kick from connecting. Hinata twisted her body in the opposite direction, slipping out of his grasp and scoring a glancing blow on Kakashi's shoulder. Hinata landed on her feet before back flipping away from the one-eyed jonin.

Kakashi stood still, watching her for several seconds before he turned to look at his arm in shock. Sakura didn't know what had surprised him, but whatever it was it seemed to put him on edge. Across from him, Hinata stood in her strange, loose combat stance, hands held at her sides in tight fists while her legs seemed at the ready to lash out and strike any opponent who neared her.

Sakura heard Kakashi speaking to her and strained to listen. Unfortunately, she only caught the last portion of what he'd said. "You're quite inventive, to have developed such a Gentle Fist Technique yourself."

Gentle Fist? What on earth was the Gentle Fist? Sakura had never heard of such a thing, but figured it must have been the technique Hinata was using. She watched as Hinata's stance tightened and she mumbled something Sakura couldn't hear. Hinata raised her voice and Sakura clearly heard her exclamation before she charged at Kakashi, "You're wrong, Kakashi-sensei. I don't use the Gentle Fist. This is my technique, my Gentle Step!"

Hinata charged forward, twirling into a spinning high jump kick that Kakashi avoided. Hinata was fast however and, transferring her momentum from the spin, Hinata swung low in a long sweeping kick that Kakashi was barely able to leap over in time.

Hinata transferred from a horizontal sweep to a vertical roll, bringing one of her legs up to thrust at Kakashi's head, lifting herself off the ground in a near handstand. Even when Kakashi was able to avoid her attack, she twisted and spread her legs wide, using her hands to spin similarly to a top and strike Kakashi twice in the side. With a simple back flip, Hinata was back on her feet sending a straight kick at Kakashi that he deftly deflected, sending her off balance.

Kakashi pressed the advantage, backhanding her to the side before kicking her in the other direction. 'I think I've seen all I need to.'

"I think you need to learn to get ahead of the situation, maybe Sakura will be a better contestant."

While Hinata flew into a rage and charged their sensei, Sakura felt a chill go through her spine. Hinata may not have realized it, but Kakashi somehow _knew_ that she was here. Sakura didn't even stay to watch the fight finish, she instead ran off to locate an advantageous position.

It was all for naught however, after only twenty minutes, Kakashi had appeared behind her and elicited a screech of astonishment. Now they stood only a metre away from each other, face to face, and she was definitely not ready for this.

'Sha! We can get him!' Finding her strength, Sakura leaped at Kakashi, sending a punch straight for him. Unfortunately, Kakashi spun to the side and tried to backhand her as he had Naruto. She was prepared though and ducked under the lazy strike, embedding a fist directly into Kakashi's side before he could react. She followed up with a powerful uppercut straight into him. This time, it seemed he was ready and he was was about to catch her strike head on. Time seemed to slow down as Sakura mentally catalogued the jutsu in her arsenal, her mind showing her at least three different ways she could have avoided this. Instead though, Kakashi grabbed her wrist, pulled her above him and himself slammed a fist into her gut before throwing her off to the side, as though she weren't even worth his time.

Sakura slid across the course ground and came to a rough stop. She slowly pulled herself up and smiled victoriously. 'I think I've got this.'

Sakura kept low to the ground, acting as though caught in the throes of despair. Instead she ran through the hand seals for two of her favourite jutsu, keeping the movements hidden from her sensei. She turned and charged at him, activating the first of her jutsu.

Sakura could see the effect of her clone as it followed her movements. Sakura had never tried to use a clone like this, clones were normally incorporeal and disappeared the moment something touched them. Instead, Sakura continuously fed a fine amount of chakra into the clone so that it blurred her into one shifting person.

She reached Kakashi and ducked down, reaching out with a straight punch to his gut. It connected! She pushed forward with all her might and slammed Kakashi into the ground. Her clones had struck from both high and low on opposite sides. Kakashi had needed both arms to cover his defence and she herself had followed her clones at a slight delay to allow them to mask her strike. She suspected her plan had only succeeded because Kakashi had underestimated her, but it had still worked!

Suddenly, Sakura's world faded away and darkness replaced it.

'Shit.'

* * *

Sakura awoke in a malformed expanse of dull colours. Shapes twisted, then straightened, danced and stood still at the same time. Voices spoke to her loudly, but only in a whisper.

" _Are certain you're ready for the life of a ninja?"_ Came her mother's voice from the abyss, her image forming in her head, mirrored in front of her eyes. It was an old memory and Sakura could always hear the _real_ meaning behind those words. **"** _ **Do you really think you're capable of being a Shinobi?"**_

Sakura turned away from her mother and came face to face with Naruto.

" _So, what's your dream for the future?"_ He asked with good cheer. His face shifted to one of anger, accusation... pity. _**"What do you mean you don't have any? What do you even want to do then?"**_

Sakura tried to turn and run, but instead ran head first into the Hokage himself. _**"Sakura, I'm afraid that I must relieve you from duty."**_ His face contorted into a malicious grin that looked all the more horrifying on the normally stoic Hokage, _**"You just don't... fit in."**_

Sakura turned again and again, but each time a new face tormented her.  
 _"Do you believe you can just waltz through this like a child?"_

" _What more do you want from life, Sakura?"_

" _ **How can you pretend to want something so much for no reason!?"**_

" _Why do you want to be a ninja?"_

" _ **You don't belong here!"**_

Every voice was accusatory and filled with a venom that sent shivers slithering up and down her back. She fell to her knees in agony, her ears screaming in pain as the voices tore at her eardrums relentlessly. Tears streamed like rivers down her face and she forced her eyes shut as the voices chipped through her resolve piece by piece. A single voice dealt the final blow. _"Loser."_

Sakura's eyes widened as they met with a pair of cold, calculating, pupil-less white eyes. **"** _ **You're worthless. You aren't cut out to be a ninja. You're weak and spineless. Stop lying to yourself."**_

Sakura stopped dead. Frozen in place by the shear coldness in her rival's words. Hinata was right, she _was_ lying to herself. She kept telling herself that if she could just try hard enough, work _smart_ enough, that she could make up the ground between her and the rest of her friends. Sakura didn't even need to guess who the other teams who passed would be.

Sakura felt waves of despair spill out upon her, cutting through her like a hot knife through butter. On and on the voices continued, screaming and whispering to her until they stopped making sense. It didn't matter though, they were right. She _was_ weak.

"What kind of a joke is this?" This time, the voice that cut through to her was her own.

"Lounging about, feeling sorry for yourself? Sha! Is that really the best you've got!" The angry voice echoed throughout her head and she clenched her fists tightly.

 **'That's right.'** Sakura thought as she rose to her feet.

"Giving up, feeling sorry for myself, that's never gotten me anywhere before!"

"You think that a few halfhearted, laughable taunts are gonna be enough to make me give up?!"

"I don't think my introduction earlier did me justice! I'm Sakura Haruno!" Sakura embedded her fist into figment after figment, destroying wave after wave of disparaging voices. "And I. Don't. Give. In."

With one last strike the world around Sakura cracked and began to fall apart. Until Sakura was left alone in a clearing, fist outstretched and a massive grin on her face. "Don't mess with me!"

* * *

Sakura wasn't sure how long she'd been in the genjutsu for, or how long she had now been wandering through the forest. Kakashi had made no further attempts on her. At this point, Sakura was so exhausted from breaking the genjutsu that she wasn't even quite sure what she was looking for, she was just wandering through the trees, hoping an answer presented itself.

She was, however, prescient enough to notice something at the centre of a nearby clearing. The sight nearly thrust her to her knees and she barely kept herself standing, and the bile from rising to the back of her throat. Her body almost began shaking and a fear unlike any that had ever held her before took hold. It was Hinata Hyuuga's dismembered head.

Sakura had never _liked_ Hinata. No, Sakura had _hated_ her, but she'd never wished... _this_ upon her. If this was what Kakashi would do to them if they failed, she didn't know if she could continue on.

Hinata's eyes blinked at her.

'What? I'm sorry?' Sakura tried. She truly tried to put words to her feeling of confusion, but instead all she managed to get out was a sputtered, "Huh?"

Hinata's head kept staring back at her when her mouth opened. "Well, are you going to help me, or just stand there gawking?"

It took Sakura a full thirty seconds to comprehend what was going on. Once she did, Sakura did the only thing one could do in such a situation. She began to laugh. She laughed so hard she had to grab her chest in pain, and tears began to stream from her eyes. "Hey! It's not funny!"

This, if it were even possible, made Sakura laugh even harder. She barely managed to get words out as she actually fell to the ground in near-hysterics. "It is totally funny!"

Hinata Hyuuga had been buried, from neck to toe, in the coarse dirt. She didn't know how it had happened, or why Kakashi had decided to do something so amazing, but she honestly didn't care. This may just be the best day of her life.

"Tch," Hinata turned her head to avoid looking at Sakura, or as much as her position would allow her. "Would you just help me out already!"

This sobered Sakura up somewhat – Hinata rarely, if ever, asked for help. It drove a feeling of anxiety into her heart. She physically winced as she realized just how hopeless their situation seemed. They weren't even Genin yet, and they were up against a Jonin. How in the heavens were they to defeat such a powerful enemy.

"On one condition." Sakura's response surprised herself if she were being honest. She couldn't believe what she was about to propose. "You help me take down Kakashi-sensei."

Hinata seemed genuinely surprised by this, and when it seemed as though she needed more convincing, Sakura refused to let up. "I can't beat him! And I saw you fight him, you know you can't either... But... maybe if we work together, maybe if we change the odds, maybe then we can beat him!"

Hinata stared at her for several long moments. Finally, she spoke in a clear and focused voice, "I'll join you on one condition."

Sakura swallowed and nodded her affirmation. Hinata continued, "Whatever happens, I want a bell. If we break one, if we only manage to take one: I get it."

Under her breath, Sakura could just barely make out Hinata saying, "I don't have time to go back to the Academy."

Sakura nodded her head once again in affirmation. "Then that's the deal."

Unfortunately for Sakura, it turned out that helping Hinata was harder than she had anticipated. The earth around her was sturdy, and after what felt like an hour's work – though was probably more like twenty minutes – Sakura was hardly any closer to unearthing her rival-turned-ally than she had been at the beginning. Panting, Sakura finally fell back and gave in, "I... don't think this is gonna work, Hyuuga."

Hinata let out a sigh that was more a growl, and gave her a glance that was more a glare, "Do you have another plan, Haruno?"

"I" Sakura honestly didn't. Physically, she was probably the weakest of her three teammates, and none of her jutsu could help. It would be so much easier if there were more of her. Hold on, more of her? "I think I know what to do, I'll be right back!"

"H-hey! Where are you going!?" Hinata called after her.

Sakura didn't even look back as she called back, "I'm going to get help."

* * *

As it turned out, Naruto was easier to find than one would expect. Or exactly as easy as one would expect, given his outrageously bright jumpsuit and over-the-top personality. It took her maybe ten minutes to locate the precocious blonde, walking around, shouting out for Kakashi to come fight him head on.

Sakura would have giggled at Naruto's antics, but she had more important things on her mind. She leaped down from the trees she had been moving along to land near Naruto, "Hey, Naruto."

Naruto turned to face her and smiled, "Hey Sakura! Have you seen sensei! I sent him running earlier and I haven't found him since."

Sakura did giggle at that, "I seem to remember _him_ sending _you_ flying."

Naruto flushed at the recrimination, scratching the back of his head as he said, "Oh, so you saw that. Well, I'm sure he only did that cause he was afraid I'd-"

"Listen, Naruto, I need your help," Sakura interrupted, and Naruto shifted to give her his full attention. "I need you to help free Hyuuga, she's uhm... stuck right now and I can't free her anytime soon; but, if you used your clones, we could do it in a tenth the time, if not less."

"And then we go fight Kakashi-sensei together," Naruto nodded sagely, his face scrunched in concentration. He opened his eyes and gave her a shallow grin, "But if I'm gonna help you I want you to promise me something."

"Oh," Sakura said, taken aback. She hadn't anticipated getting him to go along with the second phase of her plan so easily. "Y-yeah, sure, anything."

"I want a guaranteed bell."

Except that. Sakura felt the blood drain from her face and sweat spread across her palms. Sakura wasn't sure how to respond. On the one hand, Naruto's help might just make the difference, and she wouldn't even be able to get Hinata without it. On the other, she had already promised one of the bells to her rival, and she had honestly meant it. If she agreed to Naruto, either she'd need to betray one of them or else she'd... Sakura shook her head and stared Naruto down, "Agreed."

They'd just have to deal with the details later.

* * *

After a moment's brainstorming between Naruto and Sakura, they agreed that Naruto would use his Shadow Clone Jutsu to dig Hinata out, and with a pop Naruto summoned a few dozen copies to assist him. Even with over thirty of them, it still took Naruto and his Shadow Clones almost an hour to completely excavate the Hyuuga.

Once she was free, Hinata stood, spitting dirt and brushing herself off, scoffing in annoyance and saying under her breath, "Damn him," before speaking up and addressing the others in a clipped and deliberate tone. "Okay, what is our plan?"

Sakura rest her head upon the palm of her hand as a rogue finger began curling a lock of hair. She had seen all of their fights and committed them to memory. Now she needed to find a way to use that. Kakashi had to be holding back against them, which was probably the only reason they had caught him off guard. Still, their best option was to approach Kakashi with tricks and backhanded tactics, feints and false flags. Sakura mentally ran though all the skills she knew they possessed: Naruto could use the Shadow Clone jutsu, the Substitution Jutsu and the Transformation Jutsu, as well as that wind jutsu he'd used earlier; Sakura herself could use the Transformation Jutsu, the Substitution Jutsu and the Clone Jutsu in ways most ninja never thought of; and Hinata...

"Hyuuga, what does the Gentle Step actually do? And what else can you do?"

Hinata scowled back at her suspiciously, "I can disable my opponents Chakra Network, so long as I can strike them; I know the Clone, Transformation, and Substitution Jutsu; and, I also have... scouting capabilities."

"I see." Sakura's finger curled faster and then rapidly disentangled itself from her hair, "I've got an idea."

* * *

Sakura, Hinata, and Naruto each knelt at the edge of a clearing, cautiously observing their sensei as he wandered through it, nose deep in his book. Sakura's plan was by no means simple, but she was certain it would work. She gave the signal for Naruto to begin.

Naruto fastened her kunai to his belt for ease of access before walking out to challenge Kakashi. Once he had Kakashi's attention Naruto charged and, as expected, the Jonin practically ignored him as he avoided Naruto's flurry of attacks. Sakura frowned. Naruto was too tense, his fighting was nowhere near the level it had been earlier. Fortunately for them, Kakashi either didn't notice, or thought nothing of it as he chuckled to himself.

Naruto noticed Kakashi's momentary distraction and brought his hands together into a seal, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Seven Shadow Clones appeared around Naruto. This was phase one, and Sakura hoped the rest of them went as smoothly. Naruto, the real one she thought, attacked Kakashi along side one of the clones. It was useless and Kakashi kicked out once, twice, knocking both of them back and dispelling the clone. Naruto, however, desperately flung a kunai at Kakashi as he fell, which Kakashi easily deflect away. Sakura struggled to maintain her control as the kunai spun away.

'Phase two..."

Two of the Naruto clones charged together, purposefully sticking as close together as possible. They didn't engage with the Jonin so much as were used as bowling practice, a single kick sending both flying away. When they collided with the ground, they exploded in a massive plume of smoke. When the smoke faded, a single clone was left dazed and confused.

'Phase three...'

Another of Naruto's clones rushed forward to make an attempt at the bell and Sakura would have slammed a palm into her face if she were able. Of course he'd try to do something stupid, and it lost them a clone to what amounted to a bonk on the head from Kakashi. It also seemed to spur Kakashi to action. The Jonin slipped his book away and darted to the nearest clone, he whirled and landed a solid kick against a clone's temple before leaping back and bringing a crashing elbow down on another clone's head. Two clones had been dispelled in as many seconds and there were now only three Naruto's left.

That... that served them fine though. The last true Naruto clone charged straight for Kakashi and was met with an incredibly forceful hay-maker to his head, destroying him immediately. Kakashi then immediately moved to uppercut another charging Naruto, but his fist met only with air as that Naruto bent back at the waist to avoid the attack and flung his legs up to bring them crashing into Kakashi's right thigh and the entirety of his left arm. Kakashi responded by driving the "clone" into the ground. He was almost going to finish it off when the real Naruto charged him and traded a brutal kick from Kakashi for time for a disguised Hyuuga to escape. Kakashi leaped back and hissed as his leg touched solid ground. Naruto, and now a revealed Hinata, barely stood side by side panting and wounded, but ready to continue on.

'There's phase four... we're almost there!'

Naruto and Hinata began to charge Kakashi as a team, slowly pushing him back. Then left. Then left again. Right, back, right, left, left, back, slowly manoeuvring him into position. They were close, incredibly close. The two Genin suddenly changed tactics. Hinata leaped at him from the side with a high, sweeping kick and Naruto mirrored her on Kakashi's right, but from a lower vantage and whirling in the opposite direction. Kakashi did not respond as planned. Instead of blocking both attacks as they'd planned, Kakashi spun counter to their rotations and drove his fists into both of their abdomens. The strikes stopped them dead and she thought she saw blood on Hinata's lips. Regardless, this was exactly what she needed.

Sakura dispelled the Transformation Jutsu that she had activated before they started, and the kunai now in Kakashi's blind spot exploded into a fist that slammed into the back of his already weakened head, knocking the jonin unconscious. "Sha!"

And that was it. They'd done it! They had fought against all odds, practically faced death, fought a Jonin head on and they had won! Excitedly, Sakura knelt down and felt around the Jonin's belt until her small, agile fingers clasped around two small cold spheres of metal. The two bells came off the belt a moment later and a shiver ran down her spine. She shrugged it away and turned to her two teammates, holding up the bells and smiling. "We did it guys!"

The image of her two, barely standing teammates sent a cold realization through her, and her smile slowly dripped away. Her two teammates were waiting expectantly. Her _two_ teammates, waiting for _two_ bells. Thoughts bombarded her and she tried to think of ways out of this. Hinata and Naruto were weakened, she could easily overpower one of them and choose which she gave the bell to. Or, she could fight them _both_ , they weren't, after all, in any shape to take on anyone right now. This would be easy, she was _so close_ to fulfilling her dream.

'And, yet...' Her arms refused to move as memories flashed by.

 _Ino's face was set with a look of determination and hope, "_ _I'll make our Ino-Shika-Cho the one to remember above all the others!_

 _Naruto's face was like the sun itself as he grinned and introduced himself. "Everyone knows my dream and I'll say it again! I'm gonna be the next Hokage!"_

 _Cold, white eye's stared at something no one else could see,"I plan to save someone very important to me, return honour to the Hyuuga name."_

 _Her own voice, deafening and silent simultaneously, "What is a shinobi?"_

Sakura had wanted to be a ninja all her life, she'd sacrificed things to get this far. Sakura knew however, that no matter how much she wished for it, these two were far more deserving of the title of Shinobi than she was. They had dreams, goals that seemed so... important. Naruto falling back into the academy would mean that he would delay his advancement and perhaps jeopardize his chances of ever becoming Hokage. Hinata had too had mentioned goals that put her simple desire for adventure to shame and sent pillars of guilt through her.

They needed this more than she ever would.

With a trembling breath Sakura took a step towards them and held out her hand, the bells hanging from her grasp. "B-before you guys take these I wanna say something, okay?"

The two Genin glanced at each other in confusion as Sakura steadied her breathing. "I... I've wanted to be a ninja for as long as I can remember, and becoming a Genin meant a lot to me."

Sakura's voice broke for a moment before she regained her composure, made the last few steps, and handed the others the bells before stepping away, "But, you two are different. Becoming a ninja is just the first step towards things so much bigger than I'd imagined. I promised each of you one of these bells, and I'm going to keep that promise."

"Sakura, you-"

"Don't you dare!" It was, surprisingly, not Naruto who had cried out and it actually took Sakura a moment to register who had interrupted who. Hinata seemed to have more to say, her eyes drilling holes into the ground and her fists clenched at her sides, "We w-wouldn't even have the bells if you hadn't... We wouldn't be here without you!"

Sakura hadn't realized at first, but Hinata was angry. She wasn't done either and her voice trembled in what Sakura could only describe as.. desperation? "You're supposed to be my rival, right!? So don't you dare think you can run away like this!"

Hinata finally looked up to glare straight into Sakura's eyes, "We'll find a way, there _has_ to be a way for you to stay!"

"Unfortunately, that's not the case." Suddenly, Kakashi's slumped form rose and grabbed hold of Sakura. "As I said, only two of you can pass."

Hinata and Naruto glanced at each other before throwing their bells away. "I may dislike Haruno, But she's the only reason we got this far. It's her dream to be a ninja and if her fate is to be sent back to the academy... Then I'll just have to crush that fate to pieces!"

Naruto shrugged and then gave Kakashi a look of shear determination, "What kind of Hokage would I be if I left my teammate behind."

"Even if that means all three of you will be sent back to the academy?" Kakashi's words seemed to stop all three Genin in their tracks.

Only for a moment though, as Hinata stared Kakashi down, quietly whispering, "I will bring _honour_ the my clan."

Sakura couldn't see Kakashi's face from where she was being held, but she could here in his voice just what he had decided, "Well, if that's your decision... then you all..."

All three Genin flinched, bracing themselves against what they knew was coming.

"Pass."

The now official Team Seven stared at their now official sensei in utter astonishment. They found their voices as one, managing only a stammering, "Huh?"


End file.
